1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a rotatable head type electrophotographic apparatus wherein an electrode for electrostatically charging the surface of an electrophotographic photosensitive material and a light source for emitting light to which the charged electrophotographic photosensitive material is exposed are mounted in the rotatable head.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There has heretofore been known electrophotography in which the surface of an electrophotographic photosensitive material is electrostatically charged and then exposed imagewise to light to form an electrostatic latent image thereon, and the electrostatic latent image is developed by adhering a toner by electric attraction to the surface of the electrophotographic photosensitive material.
On the other hand, a new image recording apparatus using a rotatable head is proposed, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 57(1982)-151933 (U.S. patent application Ser. No. 355,874, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,479,133). In the image recording apparatus, the rotatable head is fabricated by mounting a recording light emitting system in a rotatable body so as to emit recording light outwardly of the circumferential surface of the rotatable body. A recording material is secured to stand face to face with the circumferential surface of the rotatable head. The rotatable head is rotated and, at the same time, moved in the direction of the rotation axis thereof while recording light is emitted from the recording light emitting system to the recording material. Thus the recording material is two-dimensionally scanned by the recording light to record an image therein.
Since the aforesaid recording apparatus using the rotatable head for movement in the direction of the rotation axis thereof does not require an expensive device such as a light deflector, it can be fabricated at a cost lower than that of a recording apparatus wherein recording light is deflected by a light deflector such as a galvanometer mirror or a multi-face rotating mirror to scan on a recording material. Further, since the light path length from a condensing lens of the recording light emitting system to the recording material can be adjusted to shorten it, it is possible to record an image at high resolution and high brightness. Also, the rotatable head type recording apparatus is advantageous in that it can be made smaller than a recording apparatus wherein a platen supporting a recording material thereon is rotated for recording an image.